COMMUNITY POLICING IN NEW HAVEN IS BOLSTERED BY 40 NEW OFFICERS; PART OF AN OVERALL STRENGTHENING OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT

(3/25/2013)

(New Haven, CT) – Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. and New Haven Police Chief Dean M. Esserman introduced many of the 40 new police officers who are completing their field training and will soon be deployed to walking beats throughout the City.

“The City is committing to strengthening the Police Department and having a strong community policing program. Both of these will assist in working toward New Haven’s number one public safety goal, which is reducing violence,” said New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Jr.,

Every neighborhood will be getting a new walking beat police officer when the 40 new officers are deployed across the City in the coming weeks. Police Chief Dean M. Esserman noted that he has made the decision that “all new officers will begin their career with the New Haven Police Department on walking beats.” In addition to the 40 new officers introduced to the public today, the department will be bolstered again later this year when 27 officers who are currently in the police academy finish their training and, yet again, this spring when a new recruitment drive begins which will add an additional 40 officers by year’s end. In total, New Haven’s Police Department will have a total of 107 new officers by the year’s end.

Mayor DeStefano praised the work of the Police Department, noting that since Esserman became Chief, a number of strategies have been instituted to strengthen the Police Department. Earlier this year, the Police Department promoted 19 promoted to Sergeant and 15 to Detective; all of them have attended “Command College,” a new program that’s a partnership between the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven, Yale Law School and the City of New Haven. The program provides best practices training for the New Haven Police Department by bridging the gap between academic research and its real-world application. Command College was made possible by a $350,000 U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services grant.

Mayor DeStefano noted that the City, in addition to strengthening the police force, is pursuing other strategies to reduce violence. “We are engaged in preventative work through the Street Outreach Workers and by supporting youth programs that provide our young people with the skills, options and support that haven identified by the CDC to lessen the chance that they will turn to crime; and we have a strong focus on preventing recidivism through our Re-Entry services”.